The invention relates to dispensing containers. More particularly, the invention relates to dispensing containers for powdered products.
Powdered product is sold in a variety of containers. One exemplary food product is infant formula. Other products include adult meal replacement mixes. Similar containers may be used for household or other chemicals such as powdered detergent, plant food, and so forth.
In recent decades, such products have been sold in containers along with a measuring scoop. In one basic example, the container is a metal can and the scoop is initially packed as loosely within the can. The can is typically sold along with a plastic snap-on cover which is used to close the can once the metal lid is removed (e.g., via can opener).
Such cans have largely been replaced by molded plastic jars with screw-on plastic closures (but also loosely containing a measuring scoop). More recently, dedicated containers have been proposed. In one example, US2006/000840 discloses a molded plastic container having a rounded rectangular planform. The lid includes features for mounting the scoop. The scoop has a round bowl of profile (e.g., radius selected to be complementary to a radius of corner junctions between the sidewall and the base of the container) so as to allow clean scooping of material from the bottom of the container. US2016/000270, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein as if set forth at length, discloses a circular footprint/planform container with scoop dock features on the lid underside.